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| Schumaker watches his 5th inning homer. (photo by Reed Saxon/AP) |
Before I wrote that silly piece on unbuttoned shirts earlier this morning, I started prepping an article with this title: “Dodger unsung hero for 2013, Skip Schumaker”
Little did I know that I would have looked real good had I posted the Schumaker piece before tonight’s game, and not after it.
After going 2 for 4 and driving in the eventual winning run with a 409 foot homer to straight away center field and scoring two of the Dodgers four runs on the night, Schumaker has truly emerged as one of those guys that has played a key role in the Dodger turn-around this season. In the month of July alone, while hitting much of the time in the leadoff role, Skip is hitting .405 with 2 homers, 6 RBI, 8 runs scored. He has raised his average to .270 which is quite an accomplishment considering that he started off the year awfully and was hitting a Luis Cruz-like .135 as late as May 8th.
Before I wrote that silly piece on unbuttoned shirts earlier this morning, I prepped an article with this title: “Dodger unsung hero for 2014, Skip Schumaker”
Little did I know that I would have looked real good had I posted the Schumaker piece before tonight’s game, and not after it. After going 2 for 4 and driving in the winning runs with a 409 foot homer to straight away center field and scoring two of the Dodgers four runs on the night, Schumaker has truly emerged as one of those guys that has played a key role in the Dodger turn-around this season. In the month of July alone, Schumaker, who has mainly hit in the leadoff role is hitting .405 with 2 homers, 6 RBI, 8 runs scored. He has raised his average to .270 which is quite an accomplishment considering that he started off the year awfully and was hitting a Luis Cruz like .135 as late as May 8th.
Interesting how numbers work. Skip has since doubled his batting average of .135 over 52 games since that terrible start. His versatility to cover all outfield positions has proved valuable. I’m not a real big fan of his defensive abilities at second base, but that’s probably because we are so spoiled watching Mark Ellis play the position so flawlessly.
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| Entering the game as a pinch runner, Schumaker scored the winning run on a wild pitch on June 7th against Atlanta. (photo by Alex Gallardo/AP) |
This is a player that puts in his time. Works hard, and understands his role with the ball club. He'll get the occasional start, or he'll enter the game late as a defensive replacement or as a pinch hitter and he performs. Then he gets plugged into the leadoff role for Carl Crawford and a game like tonight happened. I wouldn't be surprised to see his average approaching .300 by season's end.
So on a night when all eyes were on the Korean showdown between Shoo and Ryu, it was Skip that grabbed the spotlight, and his clutch performance played a major role in the win.
(Ryu did his part too with 7 innings pitched and giving up only 1 run).
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It turned out to be another perfect night for the Dodgers as the National League West rivals faltered in all their contests.
The Diamondbacks were hammered by the last place Padres 13-2, falling to 1 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.
The Giants lost to the Cubs 1-0, as they failed to score in both the eighth and ninth innings after loading the bases with less than two outs. The shocked AT&T Park crowd watched Kevin Gregg induce a double play ball to Tony Abreu to close out that game. The Giants are now nine games back of the Dodgers, one percentage point behind the Padres to put the defending World Champions in LAST PLACE.
The Rockies lost to Milwaukee at home 7-5 after waiting for nearly two hours through a rain delay to play the bottom half of the 9th inning. They were retired in order when play resumed.
The standings are as follows:
Dodgers 54-48
D-Backs 54-50 1.5
Rockies 50-55 6.0
Padres 47-58 9.0
Giants 48-57 9.0
Skip has certainly played a significant role with the Dodgers. As you mentioned, utility players are important, and I call them the constant on a team, always doing what has to be done to get from situation to situation. The big bashers are the variables, producing much over a season but going hot and cold - all or nothing so to speak.
ReplyDeleteMark Ellis, although a regular, Skip Schumaker, Nick Punto and Juan Uribe have been good "little guys" for the Dodgers. It seems they always do something significant in a game that at times goes unnoticed. I have been very pleased with Uribe's glove work and he no longer is an automatic out.
You are right - Skip has the work ethic that we all love. He is the consummate team player. Wayne Kincaid, my painting buddy, was in Toronto for the three games with the Jays. He said Skip and Andre really were fan friendly during BP while standing around waiting for a turn in the cage.
Good article - did you mean "... unsung hero for 2013..."?
That's for catching the typo Harold. Yes, I meant 2013. Ugh, self editing fails again.
DeleteI know all about self-editing. I am now in my twentieth year of producing our church bulletin. I try to be creative and make it interesting for the parishioners to read and in fact want to read it. Self-editing after 1000+ issues still fails. I blame it on the keyboard.
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